Extraordinary Olives

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Olives are truly everywhere in Crete. You’ll be offered them as entrées or mezedes, you will find a wide variety of them in markets, and you will walk amongst olive trees almost everywhere if you venture to the countryside. Olive oil will have been used to prepare most of the food you will eat in Crete, and you will find shops dedicated to selling crafts made out of olive wood, and cosmetics and toiletries made out of the wonderful oil.

Olive oil was once considered sacred. It was used to anoint kings and athletes in ancient Greece. Olive oil was the fuel powering the ‘eternal flame’ of the ancient Olympic Games, and victors in the Games were crowned with olive leaves.

Records deciphered from Linear B scripture prove that as far back as 3000 BC, olives were grown commercially in Crete. In fact, they may have been the source of wealth of the Minoan civilisation.

Fossilised remains of olive trees have been dated 37,000 years old in Greece, and curiously, they were found along with the fossilised larvae of the white fly that continues to plague the trees to this day. The trees are so hardy and resistant that they can live on for ages. In fact, one olive tree in Crete has been proven to be at least 2,000 years old using ring analysis.

Olives are harvested in the autumn and winter. They can be picked at different points in their ripening process, whether green or black, or somewhere in between. When green olives are picked, it is usually done around September. If they are allowed to turn black, they will normally have been picked between November and January. the methods for harvesting them range from shaking the tree to using nets, to electric tools. Where the terrain is mountainous, or the olives are meant to become ‘table olives’, which need not be damaged, then they are collected by hand.

Olives are naturally bitter, so do not be tempted to grab them straight off any tree you come across in your walking. The taste is truly terrible, and they are really hard! Once picked, they need to be washed thoroughly to remove a protein that makes them bitter, and then they are cured with salt, lye or brine to make them edible. Different types of curing will result in different tastes and even consistencies.

If you would like to visit Crete during the olive harvest and want to see the process of curing the olives and also the artisan production of olive oil in the traditional ways, contact Karma Travel! This can be a true foodie’s dream journey!